A spokesman for Khalil, who is showing in Paris this week, said: "We made a custom piece for Ada and we chatted about what we wanted to achieve – the usual couture process. We had a pattern for this style and its variations for many years and tailored it to suit what our client felt was best for her event. Steven felt that Ada should have a 'Goddess' moment."

Grech made the claims in a post on his Facebook page on Monday morning, saying he had to "call this out".

Advertisement

"A stylist asked to borrow the Diana dress ... for the Logies ... I couldn’t accommodate the request because it had [Monk's] name all over it," Grech wrote.

In response, the stylist said in a statement: "When Ada and I first met, we agreed to do a modern golden Grecian Goddess style dress. Gold and high splits are both really popular trends at the moment as we saw on the red carpet. Designer Steven Khalil based Ada’s dress on a design that he is about to show from an upcoming collection, created in gold for Ada."

Grech went on to accuse the stylist and Khalil of "replicating" his dress, which caused a social media storm after Monk was photographed in a staged shot of the dress assisted by a wind machine.

"If you’re going to replicate my work, the least you can do is make it better," Grech wrote above a side-by-side comparison of the two dresses.

Speaking after publishing the post, Grech explained the dress had been made for his show at the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival in March, pictures of which were widely circulated on social media.

Loading

He said a stylist contacted him in April about loaning the gown for the Logies, a request Grech later denied when he decided to give the dress to Monk.

"I said I'm not sure because I said I had lots of people [who] want it, and I had to put it on the best one out of all of them," Grech said.

Grech said it should have been very clear that the Diana dress would be worn by someone at the Logies.

"What upset me is it’s disrespectful. I was very thankful that Sophie looked incredible but it’s disrespectful to have someone replicate your work in your backyard," he said.

Grech said he contacted the stylist on Sunday night to express his disappointment but had not yet received a reply.

"I was really disappointed and I didn't expect this from him," Grech said.

Khalil will show his collection at Paris Couture Week for the first time on Monday, Paris time, joining other Australians including Toni Matiscevski and Paolo Sebastian.